Found yourself walking on Mars when you hike White Mountain, one of the tallest peak in the US at 14,252 feet. White Mountain, also has a research station at the beginning of the trail and one small one at the peak, operated by the University of California, to evaluate the effects of altitude on physiology.

white mountain

white mountain

You can also hike flat in the Alabama Hills. Take a pose with the Turtle Rock and go around the arches. You can see Mt. Whitney through the Mobius Arch. The Alabama Hills was the filming location for a lot of western/cowboys movies.

Moebus Arch

Alabama Hills

turtle rock

Take up the challenge to hike the tallest mountain the lowest 48 US State, Mt Whitney.Mt Whitney. It’s a long 22 miles hike with a summit at 14,505 feet.

Mt whitney

Mt Whitney

Mt Whitney

36.606044-118.062865

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La Jolla is a beautiful hilly seaside area by San Diego. It has the most scenic hike by the beach at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve. The hikes are easy and it gives you an amazing view of the Pacific Coast.

Take your time to explore all the trails as each of them is offering something beautiful from a viewpoint to direct access to the beach.

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They are saying stairs workout are the best. In that case, hiking La Piedra del Peñol is the best and most beautiful workout of your life.

El Peñón de Guatapé is a must see jewel when you go to Medellin. In the 1940s, the Colombian government declared it a National Monument. It is 2 hours away from the city and the easiest to visit it is to take a tour. I took a private tour: Land Venture Travel. It is very affordable.

The rock was first climbed officially in July 1954, when Luis Villegas, Pedro Nel Ramirez, and Ramón Díaz climbed the rock in a five-day endeavor, using sticks that were fixed against the rock’s wall. When at the top, amazed by the beautiful view, they thought of a way of allowing people to get to the top and see the view. This is how the stairs were built in the middle of the rock. Luis, Pedro, and Ramon wanted to share the beauty with the whole village.

On the way to the Piedra del Peñol, the rock of Guatapé, you can stop a few times to take pictures of the rock from far. Impressive.

When you arrive at the rock, you can see all the stairs you need to take to get to the top. 740 of them! Take your time, you can do it. Make the effort to go up those stairs because the view from up there is just out of this world. The summit contains a three-story viewpoint tower, a convenience store, and a seating area. Just relax and admire the view. Peaceful.

Start the hike in Fira, by the Orthodox Metropolitan Cathedral along the Caldera. You will pass by all the cafes, restaurants and little shops. Keep going up. The view gets better and better.

You will pass by the Three Bells of Fira before arriving at the first village, Firostefani.

Next village is Imerovigli. Make sure to explore the small alleys, they all lead to the blue Caldera view. Make a stop at the Anastasia Church.

Imerogvili

Three bells of Fira

Imeroviglo

Imeroviglo

Imeroviglo

Imeroviglo

Skaros rock

You can add a side trip by going to the Skaros Rock , it will add about an hour to your hike.

Skaros rock

Trail sign

From there, keep hiking up, You will walk along the Caldera passing by the resorts like Cavoo. There will be no snack shops or any restaurant for a while. You will pass by beautiful churches like the Ekklisia Profilis Ilias on top of the hill. After that long stretch, you will finally get to a snack shop. Time to refuel.

Hiking trail

Hiking Trail

You will then have to go up a hill; if there is a donkey, take it. It will save you some sweat. At the top of the hill, there is the Church of Panagia.

Church of Panagia

Ekklisia Profitis ilias

Hiking Trail

Church of Panagia

Hiking trail

Hiking trail

Agios Nikolaos

Ekklisia Panagia Platsani

Ekklisia Profitis ilias

You can finally see Oia on the horizon. Oia is a smaller town than Fira but very charming. Explore the alleys and art galleries. Stop at the unique bookshop called Atlantis.

Oia

Atlantis bookstore

Atlantis bookstore

Hiking trail

Ekklisia Panagia Platsani

End the day at Amoudi Bay where everybody gathers to watch the sunset.

Oia sunset

Atlantis bookstore

Atlantis bookstore

Ekklisia Agia Ekaterini

Take the bus to get back to Fira at night.

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The Pinnacles National Park, home of the condor, was born some 23 million years ago when volcanoes erupted. The remains of it is a unique landscape through which you can hike; rare talus caves and towering rock spires.

Leave you can at the campground and take the shuttle to the main trailhead, The Bear Glutch Trailhead. The Condor Gulch to High Peaks Loop allows you to walk through the heart of the Pinnacles rock formations, particularly along the Steep and Narrow section of the High Peaks trail. On the way back add the Balconies Cave trail to see the lake and the caves.

From the West end of the park, you can use the Chaparral trail to see the amazing Balconies Caves. Flashlight required and be ready to truly emerge in a cave. I really thought I’m going on an expedition. You can loop it back to the parking lot on continuing the trail to the high peaks.

pinnacles condor catcher

pinnacles high peaks

pinnacles high peaks

Pinnacles balconies cave

pinnacles high peaks

Pinnacles balconies cave

Pinnacles lake

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Cinque Terre National Park situated in Northern Italy is probably the most famous hiking area in Italy. Trails connect the colorful fisherman villages of Riomaggiore, Manarola, Corniglia, Vernazza and Monterosso al Mare. The most popular trail is the Blue Trail; it will take you to the perfect hiking journey in that Rainbow Land.

Take the train to La Spezia. At the train station, go to the Cinque Terre National Park Office to get your 24h pass. You will need that pass to be able to access the trails and take the train and buses between the villages.

For a while now, the trail between Riomaggiore and Manarola called Via del Amore and the trail between Manarola and Corniglia are closed for security reasons.

Cinque Terre Hiking Trail Start

You should then start the hiking journey at Corniglia. When you get off the train at Corniglia, you can walk to the village or take a bus. You are here to hike so start to walk to the village by taking the Lardarinato stairs. You will have a taste of what that hiking adventure will be; sometimes hard but the rewarding is so worth it. You should visit Corniglia before starting your hike. You can already sit down and catch your breath at Largo Taragio square or enjoy the best lemon Gelato at Alberto Gelateria.

Corniglia

Lardarinato stairs from Corniglia station to Village

Alberto Gelateria

Before starting the hike make sure you get your pass stamped at the village. All the hikes will start with an uphill since the villages are at sea level, then flat and finally downhill to the next village. The hikes between each village will take about 1h30min each. They are not that difficult at all, take your time during the uphill parts and enjoy the view. There are a lot of people on the trail and it is very easy to follow.

Corniglia to Vernazza– On that hike, you will have the sun behind you. The reward is when you get close to Vernazza and you can see the colorful village and port from far.

Corniglia

Trail Corniglia – Vernazza

Stop at Vernazza for lunch at any of the seafood restaurants by the port/beach or grab a seafood cone and seat down by the beach to enjoy the view. You can also go to the castle called Doris Castle. You can go up that castle for a colorful view of the village.

Vernazza

Vernazza – Look Up

Vernazza from Doris Castle

Vernazza

Vernazza to Monterosso al Mare – On the way to Monterosso, you will pass by some wineries. If you are planning to spend few days in Cinque Terre, you can take a tour of those wineries. You will have breaking view of the ocean during the whole hike. Approaching Monterosso, you will see the private beaches with their colorful beach umbrellas.

Wineries on the way to Monterosso Al Mare

Trail Vernazza – Monterosso Al Mare

Monterosso Al Mare has amazing beaches especially the private ones with their hypnotic blue and orange beach umbrellas. Seat down at one of the cafes now that you finished your hike.

Monterroso Al Mare

Monterroso Al Mare

Monterroso Al Mare

Monterosso Al Mare

You should now go back to the first two villages by train.

Manarola is the smallest village. Go down towards the beach with its colorful fisherman boats and the fact that there is no sand beach but only concrete sections don’t stop anybody from laying down and tan.

ManarolaManarolaManarolaManarola

was one of the favorite villages. Grab some seafood in a cone and go on top of the port to enjoy the food and the unique view. On top of the train station, at the start of Via del Amore, there is a restaurant called Bar e Vini a Pie de Ma and no other restaurant can beat that view. Finish your day with a glass of wine and the sunset.

Riomaggiore

Riomaggiore

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Wind Cave is one of the South Dakota’s National Park, a few hours away from Rapid City. As you can guess, the park is known for its cave. It’s called the wind cave because somehow the wind is always blowing in the cave. It has over 100 miles of know passages and you can tour few miles of it as the Park offers different tours from the regular hour-long tour to the candlelight one. The cave ceiling is covered by box work calcite and the walls with white popcorn! The National Park has also some trails and is known for its wildlife, especially bison. From the Visitor center drive towards Custer Park and Mt Rushmore, you will see a lot of prairie dogs, deer, and bison on that scenic drive.

Jewel Cave National Monument, SD

Jewel Cave is as the name indicates known for its jewel cave. You can take a tour inside of the cave to see the jewels in the rocks. It’s so beautiful. The cave has over 180 miles of passages and is still expanding with many adventurers volunteering to go into the cave and discover new passages. It is one of the top 10 largest cave passages in the world.

The Park has only a few small trails that you can take to discover the surface of the cave.

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Mt Rushmore is one of the must-see US Monument. I used that as an excuse to go to South Dakota and explore the region around Mt Rushmore. What scenery.

Day1: Wall, Badlands, and Deadwood

I land in the small regional airport of Rapid City rented a car from there and start my South Dakota Road Trip. 1st stop to refresh myself, the Wall Drugstore on the I90. During the whole drive on the I90, you will see signs for the famous Drugstore situated in Wall. The place was a famous stop for travelers that needed water while going through that deserted region. The big Drugstore offers great souvenir shops and a restaurant with famous Buffalo Burgers.

After a good lunch and some shopping, I was back on the road to go to Badlands National Park. Wall is a few miles away from one of the parks’ entrance.

Badlands, named that way by the French that had a hard time to cross that new deserted land, is one of the National Parks in South Dakota. Enter from the Pinnacles Entrance and take the scenic byway (SD240) to cross the park. The Park, like all National Parks, has a bunch of small trails that will allow you to discover the unique mountains recognizable by their red and yellow horizontal lines. Stop at few viewpoints to admire the breathtaking view of those mountains. Be aware, the viewpoints will be most likely very windy.

The Door Trail: you can get inside of those mountains. It’s an amazing feeling. You will realize that the park and those mountains are mostly mud and not rock. It’s not possible to climb them like in Joshua Tree

The Window Trail: it’s a small trail that ends with a window to the mountains

The longest trail is the Castle Trail that is 10 miles. It’s a good trail to take if you are spending the whole day in the park. It is said that at night you can see the stars but this is less and less true with the pollution. Make sure to stop at the Ben Reifel Visitor Center to get your National Park stamp.

After few trails and a lot of viewpoint stop, I was back on the road to go to Lead and the historic town of Deadwood. 2 hours later, after a drive through the Black Hills Forest, I found myself in that little cowboy town ready to immerse myself in one of those old cowboy movies. Deadwood Main Street is full of souvenir shops, casinos and old saloons. Make sure to check out the Saloon #10. You will see Wild Bill, Calamity Janes, Preacher Smith, Potato Creek Johnny and Seth Bullock heads over the bar. Every night, the saloon offers a show around 8pm.

For the night, I drove to the Hotel near Mt Rushmore called the K Bar S Lounge Lodge in Keystone. This lodge is very cozy and you can actually see the president’s head from the backyard.

Day2: Mt Rushmore

Start your day by going to Mt. Rushmore. What an impressive monument. 2016 is the 75th anniversary of the completion of Mt Rushmore, what a better occasion to go and discover this majestic monument. The Sculptor Created by Gutzon Borglum is a must stop on a US Road Trip. The Mount is overlooking the whole Black Hills, SD area. It took Gutzon and his 400 workers 14 years to crave those 4 presidents, Jefferson, Washington, Roosevelt and Lincoln in the mountain. First, discover the heads by walking through the Avenue of Flags that has all the state flags and then you will have a full clear view from the Grand View Terrace. If the weather is nice, take the 1-mile Presidential Trail to have a close-up view of the monument.

The weather is foggy, I decided to not go to Crazy Horse and drove instead to my next National Monument, the Jewel Cave. Jewel Cave is as the name indicates known for its jewel cave. You can take a tour inside of the cave to see the jewels in the rocks. It’s so beautiful. The cave has over 180 miles of passages and is still expanding with many adventurers volunteering to go into the cave and discover new passages. The Park has only a few small trails that you can take to discover the surface of the cave.

For the night I stayed at the best lodge in the middle of Custer State Park called the Sylvan Lake Lodge. That Authentic lodge is right above the majestic Sylvan Lake and if you are a hiker like you will enjoy all the trails nearby. I personally did the Sunday Glutch 4.5 miles trails that offered a great view of the mountains and the lake. The Lounge, with a fireplace, offers you a great relaxing area after a day of hiking and exploring.

Day 3: Wind Cave, Crazy Horse Memorial

From the hotel, the Crazy Horse Memorial is only 30 min away. That monument is one of the lesser known monuments in the area but it’s worth stopping by. It is the worlds’ largest mountain craving still in progress. The monument represents the brave Indian Crazy Horse. For now, the head is finished and for the next 10 years, they will be working on the hand. There is a small scale version of the monument in the visitor’s center so you can see how the monument will look.

From there take the more scenic longer Iron Mountain Road to get to Wind Cave National Park. Wind Cave is one of the South Dakota’s National Parks, a few hours away from Rapid City. As you can guess, the park is known for its cave. It’s called the wind cave because somehow the wind is always blowing in the cave. It has over 100 miles of know passages and you can tour few miles of it as the Park offers different tours from the regular hour-long tour to the candlelight one. The cave ceiling is covered by boxwork calcite and the walls by white popcorn! The National Park has also some trails and is known for its wildlife, especially bisons. From the Visitor center drive take the ) Wildlife Loop Road towards Custer Park and Mt Rushmore, you will see a lot of prairie dogs, deers and bisons on that scenic drive.

For lunch or Happy Hour stop at the Blue Bell Lodge right by Wind Cave National Park and Custer State Park. Their Saddle Bar is to fall in love with. A little bit further down, if Mt. Coolidge Lookout Tower is open, check out the view at 6,023 feet and on a clear day, you can even see the Badlands, which is almost 90 miles away. To go back to the hotel, I took the Needle Highway which curves and winds through 14 miles of rock formations called “Needles”. It was truly a scenic drive.

Day 4: Rapid City

It took me 1 hour to get back to Rapid City and before catching my flight I had enough time to explore the city. Downtown Rapid City is famous for its presidential walk. The sidewalk has a statue of each president every few feet. The neighborhood offers many shops and restaurants. Stop at the graffiti art alley and grab lunch at the famous Firehouse Brewery.

Mt Rushmore Jump

Black Hills Forest

rapid City Firehouse brewing

Badlands

Colors of Badlands

Custer State Park

Crazy Horse Memorial

TeePee

Mt Rushmore – Avenue of Flags

Badlands

Mt Rushmore

Wall Drugstore

Rapid City Presidential Walk

Badlands Mud

Crazy Horse Memorial

Cowboy Decoration

Badlands Castle Trail

Deers

Custer – Surrounded by Nature

Jewel Cave National Monument

Jewel cave

Deadwood Saloon # 10 bar

Badlands Jump

Blue Bell Lodge Saddle Bar

Badlands Door Trail

Deers

Rapid City – Art Alley

Bison Huddle

Badlands Window Trail

Sylvan Lake

Badlands National Park

Wind Cave National Park

Sunday Gultch Trail

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Badlands, named that way by the French that had a hard time to cross that new deserted land, is one of the National Parks in South Dakota. Enter from the Pinnacles Entrance and take the scenic byway to cross the park. The Park, like all National Parks, has a bunch of small trails that will allow you to discover the unique mountains recognizable by their red and yellow horizontal lines. Stop at few viewpoints to admire the breathtaking view of those mountains. Be aware, the viewpoints will be most likely very windy.

The Door Trail: you can get inside of those mountains. It’s an amazing feeling. You will realize that the park and those mountains are mostly mud and not rock. It’s not possible to climb them like in Joshua Tree

The Window Trail: it’s a small trail that ends with a window to the mountains

The longest trail is the Castle Trail that is 10 miles. It’s a good trail to take if you are spending the whole day in the park. It is said that at night you can see the stars but this is less and less true with the pollution.

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If you want to get away from the city, Joshua Tree is the perfect getaway if you live in SoCal. The park, located in the Mojave Desert not too far from Palm Springs, is a great retreat location in Fall and Spring until Mid May. It does get too hot during summer time.

You can camp inside of the park as they offer many camping grounds or stay at a cabin or at the Joshua Tree Inn, in Yucca Valley, 1 mile away from the park. The closer to the park, the better you will be able to admire the sunset and the stars at night. The best way to finding cabins is to go to Airbnb, they offer so many great choices but they best cabins sell out very fast.

I entered the park from Yucca Valley. Make sure to stop at the visitor’s center to collect your national park stamp and take a map of the park.

Start your day early, maybe around 9am with the most strenuous hike. Ryan Mountain is a great 3 miles hike that allows you, once at the 5,458-foot summit, to have a beautiful view if the vast park. You can then discover the park with different short trails. The Arch Rock trail, the Skull Rock trail, the Barker Dam Trail and the Chella Cactus Garden will allow you to discover a different aspect of the park. Make sure to stop at the Key’s View, also called inspiration point, from where you can see the San Andreas Fault, Mt. San Jacinto and Coachella Valley. The Park is also known for its rock climbing spots like Hidden Valley Trail.

The Park is vast so you might explore the Hidden Valley to Skull Rock side in one day and the Cottonwood Spring side of the park the next day.